Fighting the Vice: Training Days
"All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower faideth. But the Word of our God abideth forever." Sadow closed the Bible in his hands and quoted "Isaiah 40:6." When his eyes opened, one was glowing red, the other his original blue. His hair had grown considerably since Shade's downfall, years prior. He smirked and turned around "You're late. Trouble with the alarm clock again, Hayashi?" "Yes sir. I don't know why it likes to break into many pieces." A young man with black hair and blue eyes replied. "I'm sorry." "-Yawn- Eight in the morning, why exactly did you tell me to come with you, Hayashi? And who is this guy?" Ryu yawned with droopy eyes. "That's Sadow Yatsumaru. He was one of the people who killed Bael. He's like a legend to Demons. Anyway, Sadow, this is my friend Ryu." Hayashi smiled. Sadow smirked and greeted in the way he was accustomed, with the casual "Yo." He added "I understand your father is Ray Martinez. A while back he helped me fight the Vice-Kings. It is for that reason that I called you here, Hayashi. Though I wasn't aware you were bringing company." "I'm sorry. It was kinda spirr of the moment. My mistake." Hayashi hadn't thought of that. "Oh sorry if I made this an inconvience." Ryu said sighing. Sadow chuckled "Not at all. We'll need all the help we can get if we're going to combat the Vice-Kings. Thankfully, though, we have one on our side. But that is for another time. Can you fight, Ryu?" "Um, yeah being that I am Ray's son, it's kind of a tradition for me to know how to use my Zanpakuto and control it." Ryu said as he showed his sword. Sadow smirked "Good. Though before we do this, I want an honest answer: Do you fear death?" Sadow looked sternly into his eyes. "I've faced death two times: When I was training with my father, and the second was when I met my Zanpakuto spirit. So no, I do not fear death. Not now and not ever." Ryu said looking sternly into Sadow's eyes. Sadow smirked and patted Ryu's head "Good. Because against an enemy like what we face, it is not just death that you need to overcome. It is the very erasing of your existance. Now then, how's about you two showing me what you've got. What do you say, Hayashi? Not still sore from before, right?" "I'm fine. I'm not one to back down, plus I can heal just as fast as you can, remember?" Hayashi drew his Zanpakuto, ready to fight. Sadow turned to Ryu "Care to join us?" "Since i came all this way, sounds good to me." Ryu said drawing his sword. Sadow smirked "Teh, come and try." Hayashi used Kogeru to move above Sadow, and dropped down with an axe kick. Sadow blocked it with ease, causing a loud thud to be heard as Hayashi's leg slammed onto his arm. He stared up at him as if waiting for his next move. Ryu jumped in the air with all of his illusions as he had performed Sokudo Danmaku '''and dashed towards Sadow. Sadow looked up at the illusions but, as soon as Ryu neared him, he kneed him in the stomach. He smirked down at them and pointed to his red eye to explain how he saw through his illusions. Hayashi used Kogeru to warp next to Ryu. "He's like me, enhanced senses. But he's got the advantage of experience. Plus he was one of the first, if not THE first of the Hell-Hunters. He makes our parents look bad. What would you expect from the guy who escaped Hell alone?" He started panting, Kogeru taking alot out of him. "Hahaha, I haven't been kneed like that since my father! Except his knee was stronger! But if he wants to see everything I've got then so be it! Help, '''Omega Satsujinsha!!!!" Ryu's sword split in two as Ryu smiled at Sadow and went in for the attack. Sadow's eyes faltered. He didn't like it when he was underestimated. He dodged each slash that was sent his way with ease, then gripped Ryu's wrists and flung him over him and into a nearby tree. "Ouch. I guess I'll need to step up my game as well. Guide my hand, Ritoru Karasu." Hayashi's sword became a book in his hand. "I'll start with Kumo." At his command, a large black spider appeared out of nowhere. and lunged at Sadow. Sadow stabbed his fist through the center of the creature, the corpse curling up and dissolving into ashes while on his wrist. All the while, Sadow looked unimpressed. "That was a little harsh for a bug, don't ya think? Ok, the thing was trying to bite your head off. But still, you could have slashed it," Hayashi used Kogeru to get behind Sadow. "like this!" he brought the spine of the book down, like it were a blade. Sadow stepped to the side so that the book slashed his sheathed sword instead of him. Within an instant, he used Kogeru to get behind Hayashi. It looked like a candle being blown out from his vision. Sadow smirked while behind him "A Vice-King could have your head rolling at their feet already, Hayashi-kun." Ryu charged right behind him as he was in his Sensou Sanzoku, as well as him wearing his Hollow Mask. He readied his swords and attacked. Sadow was about to dodge but allowed his Leiutenant-Commander to block it instead. However, she went beyond what he wanted by kicking Ryu hard to the ground and stepping on, taunting "Oooh? Someone trying to hurt my Sadow, eh? Now that's something I can't appreciate. He is mine to hurt." Sadow grabbed her by her shirt collar on the back and lifted her off like a mischievous pet "Elizabet'. He was sparring with me." She smiled back nervously "My apologies... I was just... eager for some attention, is all..." Sadow sighed and dropped her "Harm any of my guests again and I'll re-break your legs, but this time I will twist them off and rearrange them so that you walk awkwardly for the rest of your miserable life." She smirked while dusting herself off "Oh, what a charmer..." Suddenly, out of nowhere, a supreme power was felt as Ryu slowly stood up and his eyes were bright red. Then suddenly his sword warped around, causing armor to surge all over him as reiatsu formed into it. When it was finished, Ryu was seen wearing bright green armor with mouths coming up from the backs as he released powerful spiritual pressure. Elizabet' whistled in surprise "I haven't felt Reiatsu like this since your last shower, Sadow-sama." Sadow ignored her and kept his gaze fixed on Ryu, knowing full-well what he was about to do and bracing himself for the brunt of what was about to happen. Hayashi simply stood there, not sure if he should run, or take advantage of Sadow's momentary confusion. Choosing the latter, he summoned Grendel, and ordered the foul beast to attack. Ryu instinctively roared like his father, sending a shock wave with the same level of power causing the area to shake violently. Ryu went in for the attack at Sadow. Sadow, while watching Ryu, blocked Grendel's spiked club, the weapon smashing down on his wrist and cracking the ground under Sadow's feet. With his other hand, Sadow guarded Ryu's attack, slightly surprised that blood leaked out of a fresh wound on his wrist. Ryu jumped up into the air, then stood there as he concentrated energy into his hands, causing a powerful orb of energy to condense as the orb got bigger and bigger. Sadow stared on, unimpressed "An energy-based attack, eh?" Elizabet' smirked "Looks yummy." Sadow put a hand on her shoulder "No, Elizabet'. Let him fire it." Ryu then shattered the energy as it sprinkled around him, causing the armor to disintagrate and transform into a sword which, then, Ryu Shunpo'd towards Sadow at high speeds. Hayashi ordered Grendel to move away from Sadow. Wonder what Sad-sensei's gonna pull to get out of this one. Sadow raised the back of his hand and slammed it into the side of Elizabet's head, sending her flying as he unsheathed his sword to block the attack. In reality, he was getting her out of the way of the fight. Ryu charged very close but then, out of nowhere, the energy dispursed and Ryu passed out as he slammed down into the ground with his sword in his hands. "Ouch. Temporary Bankai, most likely done in the heat of the battle. If he had been able to control it, the result would have been, to be blatent and blunt, a horrid mess." Hayashi simply stood there, not quite sure if he was correct. Elizabet' giggled while getting up, a bruise on the side of her face slowly disappearing "Whatever. Sadow wasn't even playing with you guys. If he had been so much as playing, this area would be a crater and you would all be blood stains on the dirt." Sadow looked away and ordered "Get a medical capsule for him, Elizabet'." She whined "Whaaat? But that pipsqueak cut your arm." Sadow looked down at his healing wound, which by now was just a scrape in comparison to the earlier gash. "I know. He'll need training, his killer instincts haven't been honed yet. Treat him as if he were your own, Elizabet'." She grinned sadistically down at him "Hopefully he can endure it." "If he wasn't even playing, then that means the stories Mom told me must have some truth to them. Regardless, is Ryu gonna be ok?" Hayashi rarely showed fear for someone's life, and this was one of those times. Elizabet' pulled out a pill-shaped metal piece and clicked a tiny button on the tip, transforming it into a car-sized version of itself, revealed to have a slide-open compartment. She lifted him and practically threw him into it, then sealed the door "Now he will be for sure. I would worry about what happens to him, and you, after my basic training. Oh, and from this point forward, I'' am your mother. As well as his. And I expect my children to be obedient, loyal, and subservient. Got that?" "Me? Subservient? Not in this lifetime. If my dad was part of Bael's downfall, then I have a feeling rebellion is part of my whole family's male line." Hayashi grinned, losing his fear. "Uh, Sad-sensei, should I be running right about now?" Sadow's eyes faltered "Not like it would help but you can certainly try." Elizabet', in the meantime, cracked her knuckles "Oh I will greatly enjoy breaking this one." She gave a look of increasing anger at Hayashi, preparing to snap every bone in his body. "Oh for the love of Bael. You CAN'T break me. You do know I'm a friggin' Demon, right?" Hayashi turned tail and ran, just hoping it would work. Before he knew it, Hayashi's leg had Elizabet's braid coiled around it, tripping him and dragging him back to her. "Oh no you dooon't~" Sadow sat on a rock, with his arms behind his head tiredly "I told you it wouldn't work. Just do as she says and the pain will be less." Elizabet' laughed at this "If you say so, Sadow-kun. You do as I say all the time and I still give you pain." Sadow ignored her and pretended to take a nap. Ryu shook his head as he looked around wondering where he was as he could see nothing but black. Hayashi picked himself up. "Fine. I give up. If you can beat Sad-sensei, I don't have a chance. Do as you will, just don't kill me." Elizabet' smirked and turned to a relaxing Sadow "He learns quick, doesn't he? Pack your things, kid. We're heading to '''Astaroth-101'. Astaroth, December 22 Hayashi, Ryu, and many others met in an area that looked similar to a Vietnam military camp, though the jungle area they were in had snow falling down from the harsh winter. Many of them had to bundle up in scarfs and coats which were poorly made. "How did I get sucked into this?" Ryu said, shivering as he was trying to keep his hands from freezing off. Hayashi was surprised at how people were freezing, when he himself felt barely any chill. He rationalized it as his demonic DNA was preventing him from feeling cold. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Shinjitsu Zai-no was his father's Hell-blade, which had ice-type powers. Therefore, one could reason he inherited some sort of ice protection. "Simple, Ryu. You're friends with the son of a Hell-Hunter." "Yeah, that must be the reason." Ryu said sarcastically, shivering. Suddenly, a horn sounded off and the entire makeshift army stood at attention as Elizabet' exited the cavernous insides of the bunker complex. She surveyed them with disgust and announced "I am Elizabet' Marietta von Lethersbiel Gemini de Luciano. My friend's call me Eliza, but you all are not my friends! You do not have the luxury of calling me such! If I here anything other than Mother, Mom, Milady, Mistress, or even fucking Mother-Dearest come out of your sorry-sewers at my general direction, I will unscrew your heads and shit down your necks! Do you maggots understand that?!" They all replied loudly "Yes, ma'am!" She continued "If you ladies survive my camp, if you make it through recruit training, you will be weapons. You will be messengers of death, praying for war! But until that day, you are pukes. You are worms. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human-fucking-beings! You are nothing but unorganized, grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard you will not like me, but the more you hate me the more you will learn. There is no racial biggotry here. I do not look down on Hollows, Soul Reapers, Demons, or Tenshi. Here you are all equally worthless. And my duty, sworn under the watchful eyes of our proud leader, Sadow Yatsumaru, is to weed out all shit-stains who do not pack the gears to serve in our beloved Astaroth. Do you maggots understand that?!" "Holy frick. All I want is to crush the fuckers who gave my dad the 'overdose of insanity' pill. But as long as this is the way to do it, I'll have no qualms." Hayashi swore under his breath to not break, no matter what happens. Ryu focused his attention on his surroundings as he wondered how far the mountains were and how cold it was. Elizabet' began "Let us start with the basics: Free-for-all brawl, right here. Right now. The one's still standing get warm supper, the one's who don't get cold beans straight out of the can! Have fun, kiddies~" She blew them a kiss and leaped onto a balcony, where Sadow was revealing to be reclining on a throne-like foldout chair, keeping his gaze on Ryu and Hayashi. As the people below looked awkwardly at each other and began fighting, she giggled to herself "Oh how the children play." Sadow's eye twitched nervously "You're quite the mother." She smirked "Aren't I?" Ryu punched out three guys as he growled, wondering how this was going to make him stronger but he soon decided to forget the questions and just listen to what his instincts told him to do. He was, then, able to beat down other people with ease. Hayashi started fighting two of the larger opponents, ducking and weaving between their blows, using the two of them to knock each other out. Elizabet' watched on, smirking at Ryu and Hayashi's progress. She then watched Sadow, who shared her enthusiasm over their progression. She giggled "Getting a little proud, hun?" He admitted "They definately show promise." Another fighter tried to attack Hayashi while he was distracted, but the young man vanished with Kogeru, and without making a sound, had his opponent in a varient of the sleeper hold that he dubed the Crucifix. "First rule of fighting someone. Don't attack those you think cannot dodge your move. Often that will be your undoing." Within a few seconds, the other fighter was out cold. Ryu was bleeding from the nose and panting as he felt the cold air blowing into his face, blood was on his fingers from the rough skin they had. Days later... Life at Astaroth remained the same, thorough beatings about every week. Though Hayashi and Ryu's skills and reflexes seemed to grow ever more, as well as their resolve. On Christmas eve, Elizabet' had called the entire assembly into the barracks for a special meeting. "Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Jesus... Happy Birthday to youuu~" She sang with her troops proudly. Upon finishing, she announced "Tonight is Christmas. There will be a grand dinner and a Magic show in 2 hours. In the meantime, you all may do as you will. Relax, take a breather from the hard training we've had. But allow me to tell you this, for those of you who are religious: While your hearts may belong to God, your asses belong to Sadow and I. Of course, God has been around longer than both of us. Even our enemy, the Vice-Kings themselves, have been around longer than we have. God, however, promotes Astaroth. Because we are only a month and a half away from slaughtering said enemy, and presenting them before God. Be proud, for you are one of us. We are family, albeit a twisted, disfunctional one. Now then, enjoy your free time and I will return when it's time. You ladies better be prepare... to have the greatest fucking night you have and will have in a while. At ease." At this, she turned. She was unnacustomed to being so nice and inspirational to her soldiers, and suppressed the urge to blush in embarrassment. Ryu was sitting at a table near a window as he looked outside in the cold wind at the bright stars that were sparkling into the deep night then felt his eye as he had gotten a deep scar from training on his eye. Hayashi sat at the same table, writting in a journal. He made sure if he was going to go on this mission, he'd leave a great suicide note. "I thought this was going to be hard. Turns out, even I fail somedays. This training is on par with what Margin would put my dad through." he joked. "No kidding, kind of reminds me of those intense hours practicing with my mom in the sahara desert." Ryu joked around and laughed. "A desert? That may not be a good thing for me. I'm not able to freeze, but by God I can burn. And no, that was not a bit of demon humor. I'm more or less weaker to fire-type attacks. Kinda like Articuno." Hayashi said, writting that short unintentional pun in his journal. "Anyway i wonder how the folks are without us being home?" Ryu asked wishing for his mother's favorite beef and rice stew. "Mom's most likely going nuts, and don't you dare get me started on the other half of the duo. I have a feeling I'm safer here. Wait. Sadow can get me off the hook. Him and my dad were good friends at one time." Hayashi started thinking how his parents were reacting with him gone. "Yeah, Dad would kill me, unless Sad-sensei saves me." "Likewise, I'm suprised I haven't heard a lion roar in all these weeks. Usually dad would want to crush cities just to find me and don't get me started with my mom." Ryu said sighing as even though he was joking deep inside he missed his parents. "I have a very bad feeling that in that case. Your mom isn't that scary, but if she's worse than your dad...let's not." Hayashi smiled, masking how bad he felt. "Haha, I think they know I'm safe. As do yours parents, Hayashi, so let's make them proud." Ryu said smiling as the party went on for the entire night. The night went on with revelry and laughter, happiness and solace in the company of the brothers in arms. Sadow and Elizabet' overlooked the celebration with silent contentment, glad that their soldiers have a chance to relax before the coming battle. Which would arrive sooner than they would have hoped. Day of Reckoning Sadow and Elizabet' were in Sadow's private quarters, enjoying the evening with vintage wine and eachother's company. Sadow asked "How is the progress of the dynamic-duo?" Elizabet' sighed "80% of what we want. They have the skill, power, and reflexes. They have all that. They just need that killer drive. The hatred. The desire to end the lives of the Vice-Kings. I'm sure if they get the chance, they'd show mercy on them if it meant not killing them." Sadow closed his eyes, sighing "We can't have that." Elizabet' recommended, laying next to him but leaning on him "I suggest we keep them for another week or two, just a little more hardening." Sadow shook his head "No. The battle date has been decided. They'll just have to be made aware of their mission." Elizabet' nodded "What if all this preparation is for naught? What if we are marching these people to their graves? What would you do then?" Sadow looked into her eye and replied sternly "I'd get us out of there, and we'd simply have to try again." Elizabet' nodded "And if we succeed?" Sadow turned away "We've been over this already. We raise a child, raise them as a god, and usurp Hell." She insisted "And then...?" Sadow smirked darkly "We will find a strong enemy and face them, possibly leading to our destruction. If not, we conquer them and move on to the next." Elizabet' frowned sadly "I know that isn't what you want, Sadow... You can be honest with me, you know..." Sadow looked away "Enough. This conversation ends here." Elizabet' sighed "And he continues to shut me out. And I'm the one he trusts the most, too..." She wrapped her arms around his torso in a warm embrace and nuzzled into his arms, who held her close, almost protectively. She knew she had to take solace in the knowledge that she knew what he wanted. Perhaps one day, he would be able to admit it. Elizabet' boomed out to her recruits "Congratulations, ladies! You are no longer pukes. You are no longer stains in need of washing on my soil! You are now full-bred killers. Ready to tear apart any given target on command. It is with great pride and joy that I commend you all this day. Welcome, my sons, to Astaroth, the pike-bringers of the Vice-Kings. May we make blankets of their flesh, and builds houses from their bones." Ryu sighed as he stood there, shaking his head and thanking the gods that this training nonsense was finally done with as he was one step closer to becoming stronger. Hayashi, however, wasn't worried about becoming stronger. I will tear them all to shreds. I will make the Vice-Kings bleed, I will stand above their bodies, and take atonement for what my father had done. The thought seemed quite interesting. He quietly began to pray that everyone would make it out of the forthcoming battle alive. Elizabet' smiled "Prepare yourselves. We have a week until the battle begins. When that times arrives, be prepared for anything." She turned and headed toward the bunker, muttering to herself "...anything."